Roadschooling to worldschooling transition: Decisions!

Six down, 43 to go!

In mid July we committed to making a decision by Labor Day for our goals and best way to achieve them. You can read the original post here.  There were many questions but Jay and I finally came to what we consider a fair compromise.

(I think. I hope.)

Are we going to sell our house?

No. We have decided not to sell our house. RV's and vehicles towing them depreciate. Our house is gaining value and it's in great shape. We would like to hold onto our house until we are done traveling the US or until we move abroad in roughly five years.

****Random, I can imagine our retirement homestead with goats in New Zealand.****

****It also helps that we love our homeschooling community and friends in Boulder.****

Are we going full time?

No. As much as I enjoyed three weeks on the road with the girls this summer alone, I can't in good conscience go full time knowing Jay needs to be in Boulder for meetings at work from time to time. We would either travel without him much of the time or we would be driving back and forth across the country which is not at all economical. In the ideal world we stay together as a family more than not. I will still be traveling with the girls and without Jay a decent amount but we will be happy to have him join us more often! Giving up Jays current job to go full time would not be a wise decision in the long run as it would impact our savings abilities drastically.

And Yes... We are going to go full time but not now, it will happen when we travel/ live in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Are we going to buy an RV?

Yes. The idea is to buy something cheap and remodel to what we need. Because we will not be traveling full time, our kids do not need the privacy a 5th wheel bunk house provides and we will not need as much storage. The idea is to gut part of it and put in a small rabbit hutch for Promise and Lilith. Thereby, eliminating the need to pay rabbit sitters frequently and also keeping the cost of pet fees in hotels to zero.

Are we taking the RV to Central or S. America?

We might attempt it. A lot of people jeep S. America and rent homes or apartments along the way. I like this idea but if we can pull a travel trailer, I will try it. I often times justify purchases by usage. If we spend $18k on a trailer and upgrades to only use it once it costs us, $18k. If we use it 180 times, it's down to $100/ use. Obviously, getting our money out of it in S. America is idyllic but we need to research more.

We still have a few details to work out minimally in the coming weeks and months but the major decisions are made. It was a huge relief to finally have a plan!

Roadschooling to worldschooling transition

I made it through trip number one this summer solo with the girls and we are getting ready to head out in late August for trip number two! This time with an additional three family members, the dad and the doggies but a lot less stuff. (Anyone interested in rabbit sitting?)

Our tentative itinerary is: 

Friday afternoon: Head up to Grand Tetons. 

Saturday: Explore GTNP and collect the Jr. Ranger badge (Athena's hobby.) Drive into Montana. 

Sunday: Relax:) 

Monday: Visit the Cataldo Mission House and a mine tour near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The girls will head back to Montana with their grandparents and Jay and I will continue on to Seattle. 

Tuesday/ Wednesday: Jay and I will be in Seattle, drive back to Montana. 

Thursday: Visit Glacier National Park. (Athena wanted me to mention a badge of some sort?)

Friday: Hike and relax. 

Saturday/ Sunday: Drive back to Colorado. 

While on our earlier trip we visited New Mexico, Montana and Wyoming we have not yet visited two educational spots to count each of the states. We hope to knock out Wyoming and Montana on this trip and hopefully NM in the fall. 

Jay and I decided to take a few days to ourselves and discuss the transition from roadschooling to worldschooling with the hopes of finding a transition that is suitable for the entire family unit. The two days will be spent discussing: Do we keep our house? Rent it out? Do we rent an apartment or move directly on to some sort of RV? Do we buy new or used? Do we consider a travel trailer which may be better for fitting our entire family in a larger SUV compared to truck with two dogs in tow? Do we keep the pets? (I'm sure this has to be a YES!) How will we balance cultural immersion vs. knocking off countries? There are many other logistics we need to consider.

We've spent months going back and forth on a plan of attack so to speak so we are hoping it is nearing the end and a final decision will be made by Labor Day weekend at the latest.

Wish us luck! 

Reflecting on the Trip

Before I blog about the trip in any detail (most posts are written) I wanted to reflect on what I learned... not the "What did we learn?" on a three week field trip but what we learned about ourselves on the road for three weeks, what we learned about the logistical standpoint and what we would do differently next summer and in the future.

I took a lot of notes.

Some mental: IE- we should do a homeschool project on the marketing and advertising of products start to finish so Athena can understand WHY it's ridiculous to buy massively marketed products... Riiighhht...

Things I learned:

It's difficult to plan three weeks out when the goal is learning. It is easy to miss various points of interest or historical sites when you are booking in advance.

Traveling on a schedule is not forgiving. Not at all... Food poisoning? Do you want to add in a trip to _____ place but you need to leave for your next campground? The kids want to hike at a random trailhead in the middle of nowhere but of course it is late and we need to check in!

I like my kids more when we travel!
I always love my kids but I like them more while we are on the road! The girls never fought, didn't argue, were able to play freely and explore. We had no "schedule," we quickly realized we did not want curriculum during the time spent. It was great. It was relaxed and it was nurturing to our relationships. We decided on our adventures together as a team... Well, Lex went along for the ride.

Growth is quick to come by while exploring! The very cranky and overstimulated toddlers seemingly love to be outdoors and exploring. At least mine does! Lex was able to grow coming out of her shell and pushed herself pretty far. It was a great transition and being back less than a week, she is moving back into her shell:(

The six year old found inspiration in meeting people. She learned to communicate to an Asian woman who knew no English, that she loved her hat. She wanted to go to countries of all of the people she met. A boy from Italy who knew very little English. She now insists on learning Italian. German, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, etc. She wants to learn all of them...

Overall, the trip was amazing and I'm thankful we had the opportunity to get out and explore. I'm very confident in our decision to part-full time travel in the next few years and mostly, the girls are looking forward to Jay and the dogs joining us.

Less than a week!

Wednesday the girls and I are leaving for a three week geology/ anthropology/ archeology field trip. We have lived in Colorado four years now and amazingly, we have not traveled the west! I'm pretty certain that was part of the reason we made this move... but four years later I remember that we wanted our kids to live in a socially liberal area.

So... I present everyone with my extremely limited itinerary.

Day 1: Leave Boulder County... at 3AM (I am hoping Lex will sleep through most of this leg!) Visiting the Pueblos of Hovenweep National Monument.

Day 2-4: Mesa Verde National Park to explore the anasazi cliff dwellings. Note: Athena has expressed her rather harsh opinion of this not being the Mayan ruins:)

Day 5-6: Petrified National Forest

Day 7-11: Grand Canyon where we will hike, enjoy nature and rock layers, actually, half the reason for this trip.

Day 12-13: Arches to study how nature created the arches;)...

Day 14-15: Dinosaur National Monument.

Day 16-21: Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. Grand Tetons will primarily be spent hiking but Yellowstone will have a strong focus on the Caldera (which Athena is obsessed with... free documentaries on volcanoes can apparently do that to a five/ six year old;)

Day 22-23: Travel home!

We are very excited for this trip and a HUGE thank you to James for relaxing alone for 23 days;)

Packing

On May 28th we will be leaving on a three week "geology field trip" which will kick off our "roadschooling" adventures. Athena became obsessed with geology this past fall and the interest grew.

She has become a little mosquito buzzing in my ears, begging me to pack.... BEGGING for two weeks.

I look forward to educational opportunities with my children but it doesn't mean I have to look forward to the packing, right?